Videos and Podcasts

The amount of video‑ and audio‑based content has grown enormously in recent years, both in teaching and studying as well as in leisure time. For many, video is a more pleasant and illustrative format than text, and offering video‑based material therefore increases accessibility.

On the other hand, video can be a non-accessible medium for some users. People with visual or hearing impairments need a text alternative for videos (and audio publications).

An accessible video means that the audio content of the video is also provided in text form. Subtitles also help users whose native language is not Finnish, and everyone who wants to watch videos without sound — for example on a train, bus, or in public spaces.

An audio‑format podcast may offer inspiring content for someone’s jogging route, but for people with hearing impairments or deaf users it is a non-accessible medium. The content of podcasts must also be provided in text form.
Providing a text alternative online improves the discoverability of audio files because search engines can index spoken content via the text alternative.

Creating text alternatives for videos and audio files is conveniently possible with Microsoft M365 tools. Microsoft Clipchamp can automatically generate subtitles for Finnish‑language videos. Word includes a transcription tool that converts audio to text.